Process of making matches.



No. 770,309. PATENTED SEPT. 20, 1904.

W. H. PARKER.

PROCESS OFMAKING MATCHES. APPLICATION FILED JAN 1904.-

' NO MODEL.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES Patented. September 20, 1904.

PATENT @EEicE.

WILLIAM H. PARKER, OF PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO DIXIE MATCH COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEI/V JERSEY.

PROCESS OF MAKlNG MATCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,309, dated September 20, 1904.

Application filed January '7, 1904. Serial No. 188,025. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. PARKER, of Passaic,'in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Process of Making Matches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in making matches, and particularly to an improved process of making matches from veneers or stock of similar shape where the stock corresponds in width to the length of the match-splint. For certain reasons, particularly for cheapness of material and ease of handling, it is desirable to make matches of the kind of stock mentioned; but it has been found rather diflicult to handle the individual splints during the match-making process. In the early stages of manufacture along this line it was customary to cut the splints, arrange them in a hopper, and then wind them up in a belt which served as a separating medium for the splints in one direction and to employ mechanism which would space the splints a certain distance apart, usually about three-eighths of an inch, in the other direction. The splints were then dipped, and usually they were dipped on both ends, and cut in two in the middle as they were unloaded from the belt. The great objection to this system was, first, in the difficulty of getting the matches into the belt, and, second, as the splints were spaced apart they would invariably twist or become in some way displaced, so that imperfect matches resulted. In attempts to carry out this system, but to prevent displacements of splints, the edges of the veneer has sometimes been notched, so that the projection on one edge comes opposite the splints on the other; but this involves a little waste of material, and it is difficult to cut ofl the stock after the notching process in such a way as to have the cutoff lines absolutely coincide with the cuts previously made, and so the splints, unless great care is exercised, are imperfect.

The object of my invention is to obviate ,the above difficulties, to use the coil system to a certain extent, but to provide means after the splints are cut in perfect shape for displacing them endwise and in alternation and at the same time for holding them in perfect alinement, all to the end that the process may be simplified and rendered more perfect than heretofore.

To this end my invention consists of an improvement in the art or process of making matches, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a sectional elevation of a machine adapted to carry my improved process into effect. Fig. 2 is a broken detail section, partly diagrammatic, showing the arrangement of the cut-off knife, the splints, and the means for displacing them. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional View showing the cutting mechanism and the means for guiding the splints to a coiling-belt. Fig. 4 is a broken detail perspective view showing the arrangement of the splints in the belt; and Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing two displacingplungers for the splints instead of one, as in Fig. 2.

In carrying out my improved process I do not limit myself to any apparatus, and I have shown in the accompanying drawings a simple form of mechanism to carry the process into effect, with the distinct understanding that other mechanisms can be substituted without affecting the invention. To make the process clear, I will describe the mechanism shown.

The stock 10 is such as is usually employed for this purpose, its width and thickness corresponding to the length and thickness of the match-splints, and it is generally, though not necessarily, arranged in a coil, as shown at 10, and. the coil can be hung on a spindle 11, which is shown supported on a pedestal 12, which is secured to the main frame 13. The

veneer or stock 10 is fed forward in the cusp a suitable way in the supporting-standards 21,

and the slide-block has a pin connection, as at 22, with an eccentric 22 on the main or driving shaft 23, which is driven by a pulley 24. As the splints 1O are cut olf from the advancing stock 10 they are fed down into a chute 25, which should be springy, so as to frictionally hold the splints, and, as seen, they are in abutment and side by side. In the drawings a flat spring 25 serves this'purpose. To provide for inserting them regularly in the chute, some scheme like the following can be used: A flat spring 26, supported at one end, is made to strike the splint as it is disengaged, and as the knife descends a plunger 27, carried with the knife, strikes the spring 26 and causes its free end to push the severed splint into the chute 25.

The lower feed-roll 15 is driven from a shaft 28, which is arranged diagonally on one side of the machine-frame and is geared to the driving-shaft 23. A mutilated gear 29 on the shaft engages a gear-wheel 30, connected with the feed-roll 15. A second mutilated gear 31 on the shaft 28 drives a gear 32, which is fast to the shaft 33, and the latter is journaled on the machine-frame and serves as a pivot for the swing-frame 34, which has at one end a counterbalance 35 and at the other a shaft 36, having a suitable belt connection 37 with the shaft 33. The shaft 36 carries a core or center 38, to which is attached the belt 39, which serves as a separating medium for the matchsplints, and it will be noticed that the lower end of the chute 25 is curved, so as to feed properly against the core 38 and so as to discharge splints between the said core and the belt 39, this action being facilitated by the guide-roll 40, which is arranged opposite the mouth of the chute 25 and gives the proper direction to the belt. In order that the belt may not have too strong a tension, it is fed to the chute by the feed-rolls 41 and 42, which can be geared together and one of which has a belt connection 43 with the shaft 17 or other suitable source of power. The belt 39 is preferably carried in the form of a roll 39 on the spindle 44, which is supported on the main frame.

It will be seen that if the splints were rolled up in the belt as they would naturally fall from the chute they would be in the form of a web with their ends level; but as the splints are fed downward through the chute the ends of the splints are alternately displaced. As shown in Fig. 2, a single plunger 45 strikes the end of every other splint and pushes it longitudinally, so that one splint will project from one edge of the assembled splints, the next one will project from the opposite edge, and so on.

In Fig. 5 I have shown opposed, but not alining, plungers 45, operating from both edges of the severed stock, so as to get the same result, but by moving the splints less. It will be readily seen that the plungers may be in the form of combs, so that at each stroke several splints may be displaced. It will be seen that by this simple means the splints are alternately displaced longitudinally, so that they. go into the belt-coil, as in Fig. 4, with the splints projecting from the edge of the belt, but with the alternate splints projecting from opposite sides. The splints are thus held levelthat is, with their ends even on opposite sidesand they are spaced apart so that there will be no double heads, while at the same time a portion of the splints are always in contact, so that they cannot wabble in the belt and become displaced, as in the old style coilers. It will be readily seen that by the means described the process of making matches is wonderfully simplified, while at the same time perfect splints are made, and the liability of double heads is eliminated.

I have not described the operation of the machine in detail; but it will be seen that as the splints are forced down through the chutes and wound upon the core 38 one end of the frame 34 will swing downward and the other upward, and when the coil is sufficiently large it is removed and a new core 38 and belt 39 substituted.

It will be readily seen that many substitute machines can be used for that shown; but 1 have gone into the matter at some length to show that the process is clearly feasible, and I claim, broadly, the scheme for assembling the splints side by side, then displacing them longitudinally, but not laterally, and finally introducing a suitable separating medium, as the belt, between the rows of displaced splints without regard to the mechanism employed for the purpose.

To complete the process of making matches, the splints when assembled in the coil are dipped, as usual, so that the protruding matchheads will project from both sides of the coil, and after the heads are set the belt is unwound so as to free the matches.

' Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The herein-described process of making matches which consists in arranging a quantity of match-splints side by side and with their bodies in contact, then displacing the alternate splints longitudinally and finally se curing the splints in said longitudinally-disvrolling the splints in a belt Which serves to placed position by rolling them in a belt which separate the said splints row-Wise.

serves to separate the splints row-Wise. I

2. The herein-described process of making WILLIAM PARKER 5 matches which consists in arranging a quan- Witnesses:

tity of match-splints side by side, displacing WARREN P. HUTOHINSON,

the alternate splints longitudinally and finally J. G. DUNBAR. 

